Once again, without too many surprises, the Hollywood remake of "Ghost in the Shell" not only failed to surprise the audience, but also stunned fans of the original.
Originally published in the public account of "Film World"
Once again, without too many surprises, the Hollywood remake of "Ghost in the Shell" not only failed to surprise the audience, but also stunned fans of the original. Many people argue that the evaluation of this film should be regarded as a brand new parallel world, regardless of the influence of Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kamiyama, after all, this is a box office blockbuster for a global audience.
But sorry, even if it's not compared to its predecessors, the live-action Ghost in the Shell isn't exactly the top of the bunch among Hollywood's sci-fi movies. Next, we will try our best (attention just try) to put aside the topic of who has more depth between the live-action version and the previous work, and talk about the mediocrity of the live-action version of "Ghost in the Shell". (Note: The heroine played by Scarlett Johansson will be called "major" in the following text, while the original book and the previous anime will be called "Kusanagi Motoko", don't ask why, I don't understand why she said it in the movie My name is Major.)
Broken worldview
Due to the development of nanotechnology, electronic brain and prosthetic technology have been popularized all over the world. In particular, the military has already put into use the full-prosthetic special biochemical human. Not only does Suzi have the full-prosthesis, but also the colleagues and opponents of Class 9 have equipped them. It's no surprise that a full-body body specialized for a certain ability is a world written by Masamune Shirou.
The live-action movie forced the time forward by at least ten years, and set the major as the world's first successfully developed full-sense biochemical human. The purpose is also very good to guess. It is nothing more than to highlight the special character of the protagonist and infinitely magnify the concept of biochemical humans, so as to describe the growth and awakening of this new species. This is of course understandable, and it is also a bad technique used by Hollywood screenwriters. But the omission of the live-action film team is that they only changed individual settings, but establishing a sci-fi worldview is a huge project that affects the whole body.
For example, Major's full prosthetic body is a product of cutting-edge technology. The title also emphasizes that the most difficult part of this is the connection between the brain and the prosthetic body, which shows that the technology of completely controlling the body by the brain has just made a breakthrough. However, on the other hand, electronic brain technology seems to be developing rapidly. Not only can everyone in Class 9 be able to directly communicate with each other, but even the workers who drive garbage trucks on the roadside have electronic brains that can be hacked and manipulated remotely.
In addition, the film team's understanding of the full body seems to be to transplant a fresh human brain into the machine. This concept of the Cartesian era is really old when we see it now. Everyone knows that the original human brain tissue cannot be carried out. High-load computing, not to mention the ability to achieve holographic memory and other functions. The director also doesn't seem to understand the relationship between the electronic brain and Ghost. Although he has been emphasizing that "it is not your memory that defines you, but your actions", he begins to be vague when he goes deeper. We do not agree with the blind copying of the original worldview, but the adaptation must also follow the Basic Law. It is assumed that changing the foundation of a huge world at will due to the needs of the play will split the various elements that make up the world, thus creating a lack of "hard core" for people. "a feeling of.
nothing new
In the live-action movie, Major, as a brand-new species, is called the template for the future of mankind by scientists, but she has doubts about her identity. Made up by better fights, she finally found herself and carried out what she understood as "justice".
familiar? This is not a replica of the character of Alice in "Resident Evil", but in fact almost every Hollywood blockbuster you have seen has such a similar story line, that is, from confusion to affirmation, from weak to strong. So Scarlett Johansson gave us the most expressive Kusanagi Motoko in history, with sadness, fear, and tears. One might think it would make her seem more human and allow the audience to empathize. But the success of the role of Kusanagi Motoko has always depended on her "inhuman" side. She has already seen through the simple things of freedom and justice. She will be confused about her own cognition, but such confusion will never be expressed in her actions. Being able to keep her sanity and composure at all times, always being one step ahead of others, and top-notch electronic warfare capabilities are the reasons why she can become the pillar of the 9th Police Department. For Motoko created by Oshii Mamoru, you can see Soul in the Shell: the world of "Ghost in the Shell" . The answer to who is more a stylized puppet than a superhero character produced within the standard Hollywood framework is very clear.
Compared with the shaping of the protagonist, the screenwriter is obviously more careless about the portrayal of the villain. Although the hero Kuze in the live-action version combines the characteristics of the puppet master and the setting of the "previous life lover" of the major, the routine is still not good, and he is bent on revenge for the HANKA company that abandoned him at the beginning, and uses his amazing network integration ability. After killing all the scientists, after the real villain Dr. Osmund surfaced in the later stage, his sense of existence dropped sharply, and even one-tenth of his abilities in the earlier stage could not be exerted.
And Dr. Osmund is even more incredible. Just to get research materials, he went to the streets to arrest homeless people. You must know that a company like HANKA, which cooperates closely with the government and the army, is too easy to obtain research materials. The army and social organizations The injured and volunteers here are all legitimate sources without any risk.
The screenwriter simply created the villain's "evil", and once again created characters regardless of logic. Even if there were more villains from the original work, it would not be attractive. The villains of the "Battling in the Shell" series are actually very interesting. From the puppet master, the smiling man to the hero of Kuze, including the new era of Kuruz, they have never been pure villains, and even many of them are like-minded with Motoko, It is only because of the relationship between politics and history that they stand on different positions. Who is the antagonist? Is it simple social power? The Attack in the Shell series has never given an answer that can be easily explained, because this is where the complexity of society lies and where its practical significance is reflected. Compared with the stereotyped villain in the live-action version, who can't even justify himself, it is self-evident.
mediocre directing
We really can't ask for much from Rupert Sanders, whose predecessor was Snow White and the Huntsman. But the director also claims to be a fan of the "Battling in the Shell" series, and is so ambitious that he wants to combine the plots of the 1995 theatrical version, "Innocent" and "2nd GIG" in one script. However, the facts tell us that 1+1+1 does not It is not always equal to 3, and sometimes it may be a negative number . These works by Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kamiyama can be picked out at random, and their length and interpretation space can be said to be amazing. Drawing some concepts from each story, piecing together a story, and supplementing it with American universal values, it can only be said that drawing a tiger is not an anti-dog.
The script of a commercial blockbuster is often influenced by the management, so we judge the director's level more by audio-visual language. Unfortunately, Rupert Sanders has not shown any talent in this regard. The deviation of the understanding of the characters in the literary drama has caused many performances to fall out of their proper state, such as a scene between Major and Bart: Major doubts his true identity and runs to dive, Bart comes to the boat to look for Major, and the woman's eyes are very moving. Delicate and charming, she almost threw herself on Bart. The relationship between the two men and women is obviously bigger than the relationship between comrades-in-arms, which makes people feel embarrassed and cancer will be committed. In terms of action scenes, the director's biggest credit is only to restore a few Oshii Mamoru version of the gunfight scenes. The optical camouflage hand-to-hand combat on the water , which is generally rated the best by the audience, is almost a copy of the mirror and color tone. The ending and the battle of thinking about the chariot, although it is also a lot of reference, but after adding more explosions and bullets, the chilling atmosphere of the original is instantly lost.
There is nothing wrong with the Weta studio escorting this film in terms of special effects and art, but you must know that Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters will fail if they do not make breakthroughs in visual expression. Leaving aside the clichéd example of bullet time in The Matrix, in recent years, even a series like Marvel, which is almost out of sci-fi, has produced works like Doctor Strange that integrate visual design. As for the real-life works of the "Battling in the Shell" series, which has always been a pioneer, it would be too unreasonable if it has no achievements other than restoring the classic scenes of animation.
soulless soundtrack
Originally, I wasn't too worried about the soundtrack before the release. Clint Mansell holds works such as "Requiem for a Dream" and "Stoke", which are very suitable for the "Battling in the Shell" series in terms of style, level and consciousness, and can be compared with the two great gods Kawai Kenji and Kanno Yoko. However, after watching the movie, I still lost my teeth. How can this be a little bit like "Battling in the Shell"? Even the shadow of Clint Mansell himself disappeared.
To know that "Battling in the Shell" is a story that takes place in a future city that combines the customs of Tokyo and Hong Kong, it is really easy to make a distinctive feature in terms of hearing. Kenji Kawai's combination of ritual rumors and the weird retro style of Taiko, as well as Yoko Kanno's electronic sound full of technology, have achieved very good results. The live-action version of the soundtrack is like the canned music that comes off the assembly line and is directly pasted on the film. As soon as the soundtrack starts , the audience will immediately travel to the "Transformers" studio, and in the end will only remember that the large-scale band cooperated with the explosion. The voice does not leave any melody and impression in the heart.
Instead of taking Fengshen's "Puppet Ballad" as an example, let's talk about another episode in "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence". On a rainy night, Ishikawa drove Bart home in his vintage car, and the neon lights swept back quickly. The two chatted about trivial work and whether it is better to give the dog dry food or wet food. The background came. The song River of Crystals.
The audience's emotions and senses can be immediately aroused by hearing, and everyone can feel it by themselves. This is the kind of music that is made after a deep understanding of the picture and the plot.
How to attack the shell to become an "empty shell"
In fact, compared with other ACG IPs, the ending of the "Battling in the Shell" series is already good. "EVA", which is also a cross-generational work, was stillborn after passing countless unreliable main creator lists. The preparations are far off, and James Cameron has also changed the director candidate for "Bombardment", which James Cameron vowed to shoot. "Ghost in the Shell" was first spotted by the great director Spielberg, and then escorted by a large company like Paramount. The budget of more than 100 million US dollars is also a treatment that other works have not received. Even so, the live-action movie was dubbed "Ghost in the Shell" by the audience , following in the footsteps of "Resident Evil", "Assassin's Creed" and "Dragon Ball". This can't help but make people wonder, is Hollywood really not good at remakes of ACG-themed movies?
This has to be told from the Hollywood system. The stories that they see as live-action adaptations are basically doomed to the fate of large investment and large production. After more than 100 years of development, Hollywood studios have developed very mature research methods and mathematical models to calculate the input-output ratio of super-production. The type of film, the release date, the reputation and box office of the main creator's past works are all included in this mathematical model.
And this system is matched with a set of creative rules that have been practiced countless times. What kind of conflict is the story at the beginning, the plot will advance rapidly in the first few minutes, and the protagonist will be in the first few scenes. The play will lose all into the trough. If this system were to be described in detail, a book would not be complete. Sound boring? It's not that the screenwriters who have made millions of years are exhausted, but only under such a creative system can the studio's mathematical model take effect. For special effects blockbusters, which can easily cost $100 million, only by controlling the largest variable as much as possible, there will be no errors in mathematical calculations, so that Wall Street, who only recognizes numbers, will buy it. This is why the audience feels that the special effects have become more and more gorgeous in the past 20 years, but the story is no longer able to move people's hearts. Because technology can be calculated, but creation cannot. When it comes to big-budget projects, the big Hollywood studios would rather spend their money on technology that can actually see results than risk taking the creation out of their control. But they must see the fact that the beauty of the film lies in this incalculable half-step.
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